Redsight, by Meredith Mooring
The Book
Synopsis:
Korinna has simple priorities: stay on the Navitas, stay out of trouble, and stay alive. She may be a Redseer, a blind priestess with the power to manipulate space-time, but she is the weakest in her Order. Useless and outcast. Or so she has been raised to believe.
As she takes her place as a navigator on an Imperium ship, Korinna’s full destiny is revealed to her: blood brimming with magic, she is meant to become a weapon of the Imperium, and pawn for the Order that raised her. But when the ship is attacked by the notorious pirate Aster Haran, Korinna’s world is ripped apart.
Aster has a vendetta against the Imperium, and an all-consuming, dark power that drives her to destroy everything in her path. She understands the world in a way Korinna has never imagined, and Korinna is drawn to her against her better judgment.
With the Imperium and the justice-seeking warrior Sahar hot on her heels, Korinna must choose her side, seize her power and fulfil her destiny--or risk imperiling the future of the galaxy, and destroying the fabric of space-time itself.
My Review
Redsight is the debut novel of Meredith Mooring, a sapphic space opera with complex characters, ancient and powerful religions, a book which is probably closer to fantasy in space than sci-fi per se, published by Solaris. An action packed story following Korinna, a Redseer, a blind priestess from the order of Vermicula, who has been raised to believe she was the weakest of her order, just surviving in the Navitas; but when she's revealed the truth of her nature by one of her superiors, a journey that will change the universe will start.
As a Redseer, Korinna is destined to be a navigator for one of the most powerful Imperium ships, a weapon used by them, and a pawn to reinforce the influence of the Vermicula's order on the universe; however, when her vessel is attacked by the pirate Aster Haran, she becomes free to trace her own way, and to take part in the vendetta Haran has against the Imperium and the orders. Haran is the last priest of Furia's order, which was on the verge of extinction after the prosecution suffered by the two other orders; her way to see the world is really different from what Korinna learned as part of Vermicula's order, and that attracts her toward Haran.
Korinna's path is extremely complicated, as we see how she passes from only having seen the Navitas' interior, to a universe full of secrets with more ways to see the world than the one she was taught by the order. Doubts devour her, and confronting Haran will take a lot of valour; truth is neither white nor black, and sometimes it feels Korinna is not really ready for the world that was opened in front of her after Haran's attack. Her inexperience draws her toward having a romantic relationship with Haran, which at some points can be felt as manipulative from Haran's side, as she can use her experience to manipulate Korinna.
However, Korinna grows during the entire book, from the insecurity to learn how to leader and take advantage of her power. It deserves a mention how well blindness is described in Redsight, putting sometimes the focus on the disability and not ignoring it when it's convenient.
The universe itself is imaginative, with three religious orders that share some foundational myths, but which have evolved into different functions, with the black one almost disappearing. The magic system is soft, based on tactus, an energy which can be used by the priestesses.
Spoilers ahead in this paragraph, but I would like to take a moment to give a shotout to the final scene, as it is full of symbolism and for me it's the perfect way to close this book; including the revelation of the truth behind the foundational myths of this universe, and the power of a communion which leads to the apotheosis of the three main characters.
Redsight is a promising debut, a perfect read if you are looking for an ambitious fantasy/space opera set in the space; Meredith Mooring is a name to watch in the future.
